Let Blanc in or ban him?

‘Make Girls BEG To Sleep With You After SHORT-CIRCUITING Their Emotional And Logical Mind Into A Million Reasons Why They Should.’ I don’t know if I should be happy Julien Blanc capitalised the word ‘Girls’ on his website when he is ironically capitalising on them.

A petition that has attracted more than 70,000 supporters is calling on Home Secretary Theresa May to refuse ‘pick-up artist’ Blanc from entering the UK.

Known as a ‘dating coach’ by some and ‘sexual predator’ by others, is it right to ban him from the country when we live in a free society?

Blanc is a threat to men and the advancement of what it means to be a man. Through his advice, he has the power to infiltrate the minds of men who are clearly vulnerable if they want advice on overcoming last minute resistance and are willing to pay Blanc over a thousand pounds a seminar.

‘‘You should have multiple excuses to get her to your place.” “Who here has that? How are you going to get the girl out of the club . . . how are you going to get her in your room, how are you going to get her on your bed?”

His manipulation, actions and teachings are also a threat to women. After video footage shows him approaching women in Asia and clasping their throats while putting his finger on their lips and saying ‘shhh’, is this what we will expect from men when walking down the street? Surely the video of street harassmentshowed we have it bad enough.

I say let him in.

When it comes to how sex is perceived, both men and women need to be re-educated. On his website Blanc says ‘I wasn’t a popular kid, and it sucked’. We saw how rejection led Eliot Roger on a mass murder rampage against the girls that dismissed him.

Men are never taught to control their sexual desires and instincts but always coached in how to get what they want – or worse, carry out rape and get it anyway. Why is self-control not a lesson to be learnt?

Maybe the way sex is consumed is one of the problems. It is now seen on a viral perspective with pornography and violent pornography available for men and boys.

So we also need to work from the grass roots. In my article ‘Is Feminism Destroying Love?’I argued that the ‘New Woman’ would have a direct impact on men, so looked through the male gaze at the impact of feminism on men. In other articles, I have argued that as women have developed a voice and advanced in all fields intellectually, an increasing amount of violence has been used against their bodies in an act of retaliation and as a method of silencing. Blanc’s teachings represent a fusion of these views.

As women have become more independent, the notion of chivalry has been impacted upon. Women do not need men to ‘support’ them because they can achieve what they want on their own. But everyone needs love. And even feminism needs the support of both men and women to have any real change. The dynamic of love has been intoxicated by a violent need for sex.

Maybe ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is one of the reasons for this change. Christian Grey’s conglomeration of love, sex and violence has changed attitudes to sex. But Anastasia Steele, his partner in the book, was not a vulnerable girl who was manipulated. She made her own choices.

Women need to be aware of when they are being manipulated by someone. And the women in China who were grabbed by Blanc – why did they not retaliate? Women need to stop being viewed as vulnerable or as victims because we are strong, independent women who can fight for our rights.

We now have a voice. So let’s invite Blanc in and let our voices be heard. Once again, feminism is not exclusive to women, so let’s join with men in making a difference.

I have full faith that if Kim Kardashian can break the internet with a one naked picture, we can all unite to break the reality of sexual manipulation and violence.